Wednesday, May 19

Yes, I do consider some forms of "Graffiti" art, and no, I don't consider "tagging" street art. There is a very important distinction to be made between Street Art and Graffiti.

Of course, people will gawk when Banksy's work has been painted over, but the basis of graffiti as a form of self-expression depends on it being temporal and fluid. We shouldn't morn the fact that Banksy's work is coming-and-going has come and gone, instead we should celebrate the fact that it was here, as part of Toronto's living, malleable urban landscape. We should, however, mourn the fact that there aren't more talented locals, like Dan Bergeron, creating large-scale works whose bold aesthetic presence in non-traditional spaces forces the public to engage with issues that directly impact the very streets the art is a part of. Banksy's work acts as a source of critical self-examination. Street art forces us to engage with our surroundings and actively participate in intelligent, critical discourse. Philosopher Cornel West said, “An unexamined life is not worth living […] how do you examine yourself, what happens when you interrogate yourself, what happens when you begin to call into question your tasks and assumptions and unarticulated presuppositions, and begin then to become a different kind of person? The Socratic imperative of examining yourself requires courage, in a way butler and Yates used to say, it takes more courage to examine the dark corners of your own soul then it does for a soldier to fight on a battlefield. Courage to think c-r-i-t-i-c-a-l-l-y, courage is the enabling virtue for any philosopher, for any human being I think in the end. Courage to think, courage to love, courage to hope.”

The preview for the online, interactive portion of the Kenk project was launched today - and can be found off the main site: kenk.ca/previews! Also, while is still on the subject of Kenk, check out the fantastic teaser created by Craig Small and the lovely folk at The Juggernaut (above).